Arrogance
by pathera
Summary: Chase can't stand it when his brother acts like he owns the world. And Blake can't stand it when Chase gives the world that cocky grin. One-shot.


A/N: So, Step Up 2 is my newest obsession and this is one of many one-shots that I'm posting today. I am absolutely in _love _with the dynamics of Chase and Blake's relationship as brothers, and most of my one-shots revolve around them. This one-shot focuses on the state of their relationship _before _Blake sees Chase compete in the streets. Reviews are always appreciated, so tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own Step Up 2, or Chase, or Blake, or Andie, or anyone...and it makes me sad.

Arrogance

Chase can't stand it when his brother acts like he owns the world.

He remembers back to the days before his brother became a stranger. Back when it was just the two of them, because their parents were always at so-and-so's fundraiser or this-person-from-across-the-street's party. In those days Blake would pick him up after school and take him for ice cream or to a movie or they would play baseball or football in the backyard. They would order pizza or Chinese food and watch scary movies, and Blake would let him stay up way past his bed time.

Chase misses those days.

He remembers that when Blake told him he was leaving he stopped talking. For three whole weeks before his brother left he didn't say a word, not to his teachers, not his friends, not his parents, and definitely not to his brother. And when he stood in the airport with his parents, bidding Blake farewell, he didn't say goodbye.

It was after Blake left that Chase decided he hated ballet. It was after that that he threw himself into hip-hop. He wanted something darker and heavier and more challenging than the delicate, elegant ballet his brother loved. When he danced he didn't want to remember Blake. He wanted to forget him.

Sometimes Chase looks at his brother and doesn't recognize him.

This dark-haired, dark-eyed, oh-so-serious man who doesn't have a sense of humor and has never heard the term flexibility applied to personality isn't the Blake he knew. The Blake he knew was funny and was always laughing, always smiling, except for when he was dancing, and then he was serious but his eyes lit up. He was the person that Chase wanted to be, the person he idolized, the person who would reach out and ruffle his hair, and though Chase would duck away he secretly loved it.

Now Blake walks around like he owns the world. His arrogance just rolls off of him, he has that smug superiority—_just like their parents_—and he gives Chase those 'what the hell are you doing with your life?' looks.

And Chase wants to scream at him _What the hell happened to you? _but he doesn't.

Blake talks about the future and his _Big Plans _and how he is going to turn MSA into a state-of-the-art center for only the best. And sometimes Chase wants to take him and shake him around and ask him _What the hell are you doing? _because Blake is so focused on his plans that he doesn't notice what he is doing. He doesn't notice that he is destroying people, destroying dreams with his smirks and his arrogance.

Chase hates it when his brother walks around like he owns the world.

He wants to trip him and stand over him and stare down at him and say _You don't own anything. _

But most of all, Chase just wants his brother back.

* * *

Blake can't stand it when his brother gives him that cocky smirk of his.

He remembers the little boy from before he left. The kid that he left behind was always smiling and laughing, always holding out his arms, asking to be lifted up. Always asking questions, always full of energy and life. He was innocent and pure.

Sometimes Blake stares at Chase and tries to see that little boy.

He can't.

All he sees is a cocky teenager; rebellious and full of himself, unwilling to listen to a word of criticism, a word of advice. Especially when that word comes from Blake. Everything that comes out of Blake's mouth, Chase doesn't hear, and Blake knows it.

He remembers when Chase hung on his every word. His brown eyes would stare up at him, filled with admiration and hero-worship, and when people asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up he would always say "I want to be just like Blake." Given half-a-chance Chase would have followed him every where, to school, to dance, out with his friends. He would have given anything to be just like his brother.

Somewhere along the line, that all changed.

Blake wishes he knew when it was.

He remembers the silent treatment he, and the rest of the world, received from Chase before his departure. He remembers kneeling in front of his brother in the airport, looking into his brother's eyes. "Bye, Chase." And he remembers how those brown eyes bored into him, accusing, and how those lips stayed firmly, stubbornly, closed.

He turned his back and walked away.

He has big plans for the future. Plans that will make the future better for them. And he wants his brother involved. He sees, he _knows_, how talented his brother is, if only he would push himself a little harder, stop fooling around with this crazy stuff that he likes so much. Sometimes he opens his mouth and tries to explain himself, explain what he is trying to do. And Chase just shakes his head, as mute as he was in the airport ten years before.

Blake hates the fact that his brother disregards him.

He stands in his brother's doorway, leaning against the door frame, and looks at his brother. Chase knows he is there, but doesn't acknowledge his presence. He leans over a notebook, writing something.

"Chase, can we talk?"

The blonde-haired teenager ignores him.

He raises his voice, shouting over the hip-hop blasting from his brother's speakers. "Can you turn that down?"

Chase's eyes flicker towards him, and he has that cocky sneer on his lips. He reaches over and grabs the volume dial, turning it so that the music goes louder and louder, blocking him out, because Chase doesn't want to hear what he has to say.

Sometimes Blake just wants to grab his brother and yell _'What the hell is wrong with you?' _but he doesn't, because he thinks that Chase would just flip him off and walk away.

Blake hates that cocky smirk that his brother always wears.

He wonders when exactly that expression came to replace all the genuine smiles.

And, most of all, he wonders whether or not he had something to do with it.


End file.
